WHAT A NIGHTMARE! The building is so old and moldy that I had the worst asthma attack of my entire life during the first night I stayed there -- it literally woke me out of my sleep and I've never had an attack as severe as that one since!

Get this. I don't want to be sued, so I'll say that I BELIEVE that Sewage actually came up from the sewer through my kitchen sink periodically and I BELIEVE that another tenant told me he had the same BELIEF. I personally saw the superintendant's assistant pushing a long stick (approx 12 feet) up and down through a sewage pipe on the lawn around the time I had this BELIEF -- almost like manual plunging.

There were MANY layers of paint on certain areas of the building like the bldg entrance doors. Again, I BELIEVE that these areas were never scraped prior to painting and that the management would simply add layer on top of layer of paint. I BELIEVE that the original paint could probably be found still remaining as the bottom layer of paint (at least when I lived there) and this is a very old building.

At the time that I lived there, there were 2 washing machines and 2 dryers to accommodate approximately 50 units, if I'm not mistaken.

If my memory serves me right, I believe I was promised a storage cage, but never got one, even after I asked -- but don't hold me to that because it has been a while. Besides, this was the least of the problems I BELIEVE that I had there.

I don't know how anyone could say that parking is adequate -- you have to purchase an annual sticker from Lansdowne and then HOPE that you can get a space near the premises. There was parking meters lining the block in the front of the building and the 40 or so yards on the other side of the premises are "dog eat dog" and parking is only permitted on one side of that street (Stratford). The rest of the neighborhood is mostly houses with driveways. Additionally, Lansdowne has parking enforcement, which is a clue about the availabilty of parking -- so parking is very inadequate. See for yourself -- cut and paste the entire link below in another browser window -- be patient it takes a minute or so for the picture to load:

http://maps.google.com/maps'hl=en&q=Lansdowne Ave and Stratford Ave Lansdowne, PA&ie=UTF8&ll=39.941205,-75.272642&spn=0,359.997597 Ave and Stratford Ave Lansdowne, PA&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=39.940684,-75.272643&panoid=dryxrcg-gdnwCFj3BNonig&cbp=12,216.6070119832277,,0,5.000000000000002

Okay, now for the worst part of the Stratford Court experience, in my humble opinion, the people. I'm NOT referring to the tenants or the neighborhood -- I liked them. I must be very careful now because I do not want to be sued.

I will never forget the initial "walkthrough" that I had with the superintendant. We went into the bathroom and he exclaimed, "Look at this bathtub! I didn't even have to clean it for you!". At this point, you're probably thinking, "Well what's wrong with that' -- The previous tenants must have left the tub sooo clean that the supe didn't even have to clean it for the next tenant!". WRONG!!! The tub was FILTHY. I actually thought he may be senile -- he was an older guy. Anyhow, this really should've been the indicator that things were going to be bad between me and this supe -- AND INDEED THEY GOT MUCH WORSE. Please note that I didn't state that I BELIEVED this episode happened --it happened and I'll never be afraid to tell that particular truth. Ironically, the management withheld $100 of my deposit for "cleaning".

By the way, let me tell you about that. As I mentioned, I had numerous problems with the superintendant. I had to call the Lansdowne police because he kept harassing me when my mother & I were trying to clean the apartment to move out. Again, there should be a record of this with the police station or else I wouldn't have put myself in jeapordy by stating it here. The cop even mentioned to us that the apartment "looked pretty clean" (to him) when he arrived, as I recall. I was so disgusted with my whole experience at Stratford Court that I didn't even attempt to get my whole deposit back -- I just wanted to move on. However, I'm quite sure that I left that place much cleaner than I received it.

Decor' I got teased about how ugly the hallways were in this building by the few guests that I brought into that place. Filthy, dirty carpeting, the walls of the hallway were "yellowed" with dinge, except for the moldings which had the above-mentioned paint layering and very poor lighting.

BOTTOM LINE: There is a reason why this apartment building is so cheap. I moved there because I didn't make much money and wanted to save a buck, but I learned a very hard lesson -- You get what you pay for. It IS WORTH paying more money for your HOME. The parking is inadequate, the laundry facilities are inadequate, the units are real small. I think you already understand how I feel about the management. If you are broke too, I recommend going to one of the converted Victorian-home apartments that surround Stratford Court. My frame of reference is from 2000 or so, but if things have changed since then, you may have better luck, however I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

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